Rafa New Chelsea Manager . .

mike65

That didn't take Fergie long did it? ha!

Anyway much more of that sort of chit chat and its good for Benitez as the Chavs will not appreciate that sort of nonsense any more than Liverpool supporters would.

Benitez really gets under Fergies skin. Quite funny.

Should make for some crack the next few months.

IvySlayer

I think it's the other way around lads

Every manager comments, but only SAFs gets printed and sensationalised. It's painted out like he's come out and attacked him, but how many people watched the entire press conference?

What did he say that wasn't true exactly btw?

martingriff

mike65 wrote: »

That didn't take Fergie long did it? ha!

Anyway much more of that sort of chit chat and its good for Benitez as the Chavs will not appreciate that sort of nonsense any more than Liverpool supporters would.

While I hate to admit it as we lost the title that year he really ramped it up against ferguson. He did crack and so did the team due to it. Now I have not heard what Fergi said this time but given Man City and Chelsea were more than like going to be there competition this year I would expect him to try to wind him up. There is no love loss between them in saying that i thought there was bad blood with chelsea and Rafa that I thought it be one club he would not be near

statss

monkey9 wrote: »

Had to laugh at Ferguson's press conference today. Getting wound up already. I love the way Rafa gets under his skin. I wonder how long it'll take him to ring up his puppet Allardyce and concoct another fairytale. He obviously feels threatened already.

! Hilarious.

Sgt Pepper 64

It must be like Christmas come early for Benny.
All that talent (and Torres)
He must be thinking "this is what I dreamt my Liverpool squad would look like!"

Leiva

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

He must be thinking "this is what I dreamt my Liverpool squad would look like!"

but that wouldn't make sense now would it considering the '05 & '07 CL semis :P

Will I Amnt

F**king hell lads, yous are a different breed altogether.
Fergie makes a funny about Benitez - Oooh he got under his skin, he's feeling threatened.

Faaaaacckk oooooofffff!!

Unbelievable.

Hulk Hands

cambo2008 wrote: »

F**king hell lads, yous are a different breed altogether.
Fergie makes a funny about Benitez - Oooh he got under his skin, he's feeling threatened.

Faaaaacckk oooooofffff!!

Unbelievable.

It's hilarious and cringeworthy at the same time. Only one set of fans up in arms about it all around the net and its not the Chelsea fans funnily enough.

Fergies point was actually a fair one. I'd say Fergie is very relaxed rather than threatened considering how things ended up last time Benitez was around

counterlock

It's like a perfect storm, take a manager who consistently falls out with his employers and put him in charge of Chelsea. It'll make for an entertaining six months

niallo27

Hulk Hands wrote: »

It's hilarious and cringeworthy at the same time. Only one set of fans up in arms about it all around the net and its not the Chelsea fans funnily enough.

Fergies point was actually a fair one. I'd say Fergie is very relaxed rather than threatened considering how things ended up last time Benitez was around

How was his point a fair one, he was saying Rafa will have walked into a team that could win a world championship without building the team and saying it was unfair on Di matteo as he could have had an FA cup and a CL and a world championship, yet not recognising the fact that Di matteo walked into a side that won a FA cup and CL without him doing much.

What was the point in him saying this about rafa, he is making himself look very foolish.

Will I Amnt

It was a little dig at someone there has been previous with. It wasn't an off the cuff remark, you can be sure it was prepared for when he was inevitably asked about it as I'm sure other managers were.

To say he's been rattled by Rafa for doing nothing other than accepting the position is ridiculous and wishful thinking on behalf of a few Liverpool fans.
Laughable stuff tbh.

rossie1977

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

He must be thinking "this is what I dreamt my Liverpool squad would look like!"

liverpool squad 2008-09 was better than current chelsea squad, pretty much guarantee chelsea will not go just losing 2 games in the league for the rest of the season

K-9

rossie1977 wrote: »

liverpool squad 2008-09 was better than current chelsea squad, pretty much guarantee chelsea will not go just losing 2 games in the league for the rest of the season

Don't know about that, I'd say the Liverpool team was better set up, managed and drilled but Chelsea have some talent, John Terry agrees.

Rafa is getting reactions already.

Hulk Hands

rossie1977 wrote: »

liverpool squad 2008-09 was better than current chelsea squad, pretty much guarantee chelsea will not go just losing 2 games in the league for the rest of the season

Oh my god this Liverpool 09 squad again! By these boards you would honestly think they were Brazil 1982, i.e. the best squad never to win anything.

If you said team you might have a small chance at an argument. Squad? No chance

Leiva

I never really sympathised with fans of other clubs than give out about how threads always end up to be shïtfests between UTD and LFC but my goodness this evening I do.

Will I Amnt

Leiva wrote: »

I never really sympathised with fans of other clubs than give out about how threads always end up to be shïtfests between UTD and LFC but my goodness this evening I do.

They started it

monkey9 wrote: »

Had to laugh at Ferguson's press conference today. Getting wound up already. I love the way Rafa gets under his skin. I wonder how long it'll take him to ring up his puppet Allardyce and concoct another fairytale. He obviously feels threatened already.

mike65 wrote: »

That didn't take Fergie long did it? ha!

Anyway much more of that sort of chit chat and its good for Benitez as the Chavs will not appreciate that sort of nonsense any more than Liverpool supporters would.

rarnes1 wrote: »

Benitez really gets under Fergies skin. Quite funny.

Should make for some crack the next few months.

It's hard not to reply to this crap in fairness.

Gwan Rafa :-)

rossie1977

Hulk Hands wrote: »

If you said team you might have a small chance at an argument. Squad? No chance

who got your knickers in a twist....

torres started half the league games that season, gerrard missed about 10 league games and skrtel got a bad injury in the city game which kept him out most of the season and aurelio was his usual self injury wise, liverpool still managed to outscore everyone, only lose 2 league game and concede 27, chelsea after less than 1/3 the games have already lost 2 and conceded 13

i stand by my statement

Will I Amnt

rossie1977 wrote: »

who got your knickers in a twist....

torres started half the league games that season, gerrard missed about 10 league games and skrtel got a bad injury in the city game which kept him out most of the season and aurelio was his usual self injury wise, liverpool still managed to outscore everyone, only lose 2 league game and concede 27, chelsea after less than 1/3 the games have already lost 2 and conceded 13

i stand by my statement

Very simplistic way of comparing things to be fair. It's a different league, different teams in it. You can't just say if Chelsea lose one more game than Liverpool did that year that it's a worse squad

If that's the way you want to look at things then all Chelsea have to do is win the League Cup to surpass Liverpools zero trophies that season.

Melion

Player by player, the Liverpool FIRST TEAM of 2009 was stronger than the FIRST TEAM of Chelsea today. Chelseas squad is a lot better than the Liverpool squad was.

efb

Neither were invinsibles

miralize

Melion wrote: »

Player by player, the Liverpool FIRST TEAM of 2009 was stronger than the FIRST TEAM of Chelsea today. Chelseas squad is a lot better than the Liverpool squad was.

Care to do a player by player analysis to back that up? Because I really dont think that what youre saying is true. At all :pac:

Sgt Pepper 64

Melion wrote: »

Player by player, the Liverpool FIRST TEAM of 2009 was stronger than the FIRST TEAM of Chelsea today. Chelseas squad is a lot better than the Liverpool squad was.

Isnt that a double negative?

Ha, Bennys ego is so big, he has his own web site!

http://www.rafabenitez.com/web/index.php?act=mostrarContenidos&idioma=in&co=1981

Lucky he got the Chelsea gig, cos it seems he had taken to modelling
"Sports Casual wear"

Melion

miralize wrote: »

Care to do a player by player analysis to back that up? Because I really dont think that what youre saying is true. At all :pac:

Reina - Cech

Arbeloa - Ivanovic
Aurelio - Cole
Agger/Skrtel(both played a lot) - Terry
Carra - Luiz

Mascherano - Mikel
Alonso - Ramires / Lampard

Riera - Hazard
Gerrard - Oscar
Kuyt - Mata

Torres - Torres

I think player by player, that Liverpool 11 was stronger than the Chelsea 11 is now.

Pj!

Melion wrote: »

Torres - Torres

These two are just as different as the rest to be fair.

Melion

Pj! wrote: »

These two are just as different as the rest to be fair.

Im fairly confident that everyone would agree that the Liverpool version was a lot better. Cambo?

Irishvillian

Hulk Hands wrote: »

This is amazing. Him doing well means one less CL spot for Liverpool. You would think you and others could leave the ego behind to help your own club

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D CL spot for Liverpool:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

klose

Rumours that cole and lampard are off in the summer, decision made by abromavic, id guess the rafa doubters/haters will flame him on this...

niallo27

cambo2008 wrote: »

They started it









It's hard not to reply to this crap in fairness.

How is it crap though, I really think if anyone else had taken over Chelsea he would have wished them well and got on with it, but instead he has a dig at Rafa for no reason and makes himself looks foolish.

Will I Amnt

Melion wrote: »

Im fairly confident that everyone would agree that the Liverpool version was a lot better. Cambo?

Chalk and cheese man. No comparison, the Torres of today doesn't come near to what he was at Liverpool.

Ordinary man

niallo27 wrote: »

How is it crap though, I really think if anyone else had taken over Chelsea he would have wished them well and got on with it, but instead he has a dig at Rafa for no reason and makes himself looks foolish.

Maybe he is trying to rattle rafa. The one year rafa had a team capable of winning the title(09), he lost the plot and went off on his "facts" rant. That might not be the reason they lost it but i'm sure it didn't help his team's nerve to see their manager go off on one at a crucial time(like keegan before him)

He is a lucky manager to get the chance to walk in to a team that most consider title challengers. He won trophies at liverpool in the early years but couldn't build on that, he got the boot from inter without making much of a mark and hasn't had a job in a few years. If he doesn't win at least 1 trophy this year and finish at least top 3, then it's time for him to pack it in

Will I Amnt

niallo27 wrote: »

How is it crap though, I really think if anyone else had taken over Chelsea he would have wished them well and got on with it, but instead he has a dig at Rafa for no reason and makes himself looks foolish.

It's crap that people think Fergie made them comments because he's rattled at the thoughts of Benitez taking over Chelsea.
They don't like each other, I think that's fairly obvious no?

Whether he was right in saying it is a completely different argument.

niallo27

Ordinary man wrote: »

Maybe he is trying to rattle rafa. The one year rafa had a team capable of winning the title(09), he lost the plot and went off on his "facts" rant. That might not be the reason they lost it but i'm sure it didn't help his team's nerve to see their manager go off on one at a crucial time(like keegan before him)

He is a lucky manager to get the chance to walk in to a team that most consider title challengers. He won trophies at liverpool in the early years but couldn't build on that, he got the boot from inter without making much of a mark and hasn't had a job in a few years. If he doesn't win at least 1 trophy this year and finish at least top 3, then it's time for him to pack it in

Well after you say he lost the plot and went off on the fact rant as you called it, Liverpool had a better record and picked up more points per game than before his made this so called rant. The fact that utd went on an incredible run of form is the reason liverpool lost the title that year and not his speechs about facts. Would you not give your own team credit for going on an incredible run that year and this been the reason utd won the title rather than saying utd only won it because Rafa lost the plot.

niallo27

cambo2008 wrote: »

It's crap that people think Fergie made them comments because he's rattled at the thoughts of Benitez taking over Chelsea.
They don't like each other, I think that's fairly obvious no?

Whether he was right in saying it is a completely different argument.

They might not like each other, thats fair enough, but why did Ferguson feel the need to make these comments, why not just say i wish him luck and be done with it. He must get under his skin that he felt the need to have dig after Rafa has only been in the job a day.

Rafa1977

niallo27 wrote: »

They might not like each other, thats fair enough, but why did Ferguson feel the need to make these comments, why not just say i wish him luck and be done with it. He must get under his skin that he felt the need to have dig after Rafa has only been in the job a day.

Because he has no class, wait until Fat Sam get his say aswell.

Xavi6

whippedcream wrote: »

Rumours that cole and lampard are off in the summer, decision made by abromavic, id guess the rafa doubters/haters will flame him on this...

Lampard's off the Galaxy I believe

Will I Amnt

niallo27 wrote: »

They might not like each other, thats fair enough, but why did Ferguson feel the need to make these comments, why not just say i wish him luck and be done with it. He must get under his skin that he felt the need to have dig after Rafa has only been in the job a day.

Why would you wish someone luck if you don't like them?
You give someone an opportunity to have a go at someone they don't like they take it, simple as that.
Getting under your skin, in the way people are making out here and not liking someone are two different things

klose

Xavi6 wrote: »

Lampard's off the Galaxy I believe

Might aswell see out his career and make a nice bit of cash aswell, has had a great career. Will be interesting to see where cole ends up though, still a fantastic full back. My guess would be psg?

Pj!

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/918821-london-hotel-mocks-chelsea-coach-rafa-benitez-with-re-naming-of-suite#ixzz2D4Zh8mOX

A Premier Inn hotel in west London has changed the name of its top floor suite to Rafa Benitez to 'honour' the new Chelsea coach - saying the room is 'perfect for short stays'.

:pac:

Hulk Hands

rossie1977 wrote: »

who got your knickers in a twist....

torres started half the league games that season, gerrard missed about 10 league games and skrtel got a bad injury in the city game which kept him out most of the season and aurelio was his usual self injury wise, liverpool still managed to outscore everyone, only lose 2 league game and concede 27, chelsea after less than 1/3 the games have already lost 2 and conceded 13

i stand by my statement

You do realise your proving my point? You said stronger squad, and then you name a whole 4 injuries the entire season. 4 injuries would be a good week for the likes of United going off the last 5 years. That squad was paper thin, and that was proven the following season when ye weren't piss lucky with injuries, the whole thing fell apart. Torres started way more than half that year too.

My knickers are in a twist because in the years since that 09 team they have somehow become like a barcelona superteam in the eyes of some fans. It was a good first 11 with no squad depth, who enjoyed an excellent season while several things went their way.

Melion wrote: »

Player by player, the Liverpool FIRST TEAM of 2009 was stronger than the FIRST TEAM of Chelsea today. Chelseas squad is a lot better than the Liverpool squad was.

That's the first objective post i've seen from a Liverpool fan regarding that squad. I'd say Chelsea have a little more flair in the first 11 while ye had a better midfield and an inform Torres. I'd say their comparable enough. Fascinating to see how Benitez sets Chelsea up.

niallo27

Hulk Hands wrote: »

You do realise your proving my point? You said stronger squad, and then you name a whole 4 injuries the entire season. 4 injuries would be a good week for the likes of United going off the last 5 years. That squad was paper thin, and that was proven the following season when ye weren't piss lucky with injuries, the whole thing fell apart. Torres started way more than half that year too.

My knickers are in a twist because in the years since that 09 team they have somehow become like a barcelona superteam in the eyes of some fans. It was a good first 11 with no squad depth, who enjoyed an excellent season while several things went their way.



That's the first objective post i've seen from a Liverpool fan regarding that squad. I'd say Chelsea have a little more flair in the first 11 while ye had a better midfield and an inform Torres. I'd say their comparable enough. Fascinating to see how Benitez sets Chelsea up.

18 league games he started that season.

LiamoSail

In struggling to think of another premiership manager who's been ridiculed to the extent Benitez has, by both fans of pretty much any side except Liverpool and the press

Obviously there's others subjected to it, big Sam an Steve Mcclaren to an extent, but none to the extent of the 'fat Spanish waiter', and certainly none who's achievements compare to Benitez

Foreign managers are always dealt with with suspicion by the largely xenophobic British press, an by extension, the public. Wenger took years to live down the mocking 'professor' tag, capello was painted as a man without a clue, but neither to the extent of Benitez

So why is this? Mourinho is foreign, he was successful but he wasn't subjected to it. Mancini neither to the extent of Benitez

That Benitez was a terrible judge of player, who spent a fortune on mostly dross and just got lucky a few times is an opinion that belongs with the likes of gazza (the wife beater) being a lovable rogue, Celtic and rangers being 'as bad as each other' and the Epl being the best, most exciting league in the world. That is, commonly held opinions based on nothing but ignorance to the facts and a belief in what is peddled in the likes of the daily mail, the sun and sky

To my mind, there are three factors which created this impression of Benitez. Firstly, he was a Liverpool manager, and more specifically a Liverpool manager adored by the fans, specifically those types who write poetry about footballers on rawk. Reading the type of homoerotic trife that's posted about him there, it's hard not to cringe and this sort of thing IMO, Particularly from the fans of a club such as Liverpool, was always going to create mockery to some extent. Every club has these fans, but Liverpool more then most given the size of the fan base, allowing what should be lone crymaxes for 'king kenny' and rafa be heard as they're yelled in tandem

Secondly, he's foreign. Mourinho aside, there's few foreign managers the press have ever lauded to the extent they do redknapp or pulis. Take avb for example, the man is deemed to be loosing it mentally on the basis of him adopting a crouched position on the touch line

Finally, there's the ferguson conflict. He stood up to the most powerfully man in the league, a figurehead among other managers, a loud voice in the lma, and a man with considerable influence in the press. The repercussions of this are obvious, in that the press of his fellow managers were never going to side with him

Benitez isn't the greatest manager the league has ever seen, but hes a manager who's had huge success and and a master tactician. His achievements merit the position he has just been appointed to, and interms of his peers in the league, there's few can be spoken about in the same breath. The level of ridicule he receives though is IMO absolutely disgraceful for someone who's done so little to merit it, and its the result of a contrived agenda against him. Every manager gets it to some extent, but noone to the level of the fat spanish waiter, and its a level peddled only by ignorance, bias and xenophobia

J. Marston

The level of ridicule he receives though is IMO absolutely disgraceful for someone who's done so little to merit it, and its the result of a contrived agenda against him. Every manager gets it to some extent, but noone to the level of the fat spanish waiter, and its a level peddled only by ignorance, bias and xenophobia

Oh boo fúcking hoo.

This ''fat Spanish waiter'' stuff is an insult used by football fans (I don't even think it's that good, the name is too long to be catchy or anything). Just like some fans call Fergie ''whiskey nose''. I'm sure Wenger has one, I think Mourinho called him a voyeur before. There's probably insults out there that have been made about David Moyes mental eyes. It's not like Benitez, the poor kitten, is addressed as ''fat Spanish waiter'' by journalists at press conferences or in newspapers or on Sky Sports News. Christ...

But no, it has nothing to do with fans taking the piss, no, this particular injustice is fuelled by xenophobia and ignoran......zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Gimme a break.

J. Marston

J. Marston wrote: »

Oh boo fúcking hoo.

This ''fat Spanish waiter'' stuff is an insult used by football fans (I don't even think it's that good, the name is too long to be catchy or anything). Just like some fans call Fergie ''whiskey nose''. I'm sure Wenger has one, I think Mourinho called him a voyeur before. There's probably insults out there that have been made about David Moyes mental eyes. It's not like Benitez, the poor kitten, is addressed as ''fat Spanish waiter'' by journalists at press conferences or in newspapers or on Sky Sports News. Christ...

But no, it has nothing to do with fans taking the piss, no, this particular injustice is fuelled by xenophobia and ignoran......zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Gimme a break.

Xenophobia exists in abundance in the English media. Anyone remotely clued in knows this.

Will I Amnt

The xenophobia thing again :rolleyes:
While there is an element of this going on, it's not to the extent that some people are trying to make out.

I know from reading this forum that there were some people genuinely gutted when Terry was charged by the FA.
Not Chelsea fans but Liverpool fans who had been banging on about how he would get away with it because he was English and that Suarez was the dirty foreigner, the pantomime villain that everyone was out to get.

Fergie I would guess has the highest rate of touchline bans and fines of any manager and the press are all over anything he says.
Dalglish got an awful time from the media in his last term at Liverpool.

Fact is, there's a shìt load of foreign players and managers in the league which skews the thinking that they are being singled out imo.

The likes of Bale and Hart get a free ride when it comes to criticism, not necessarily because they are British but more the golden boys of British media.
Suarez gets his fair share of criticism for diving whereas Bale seems to get away scot free.
De Gea gets rounded upon for the slightest mistake whereas Hart gets away scot free.

That seems to be xenophobic to some people when in fact Ashley Young and Steven Gerrard got lambasted for a few dives and Rob Green and David James were a running joke in the British media at times.

As I said, there is an element of it but it's completely blown out of proportion by a few people on here.

LiamoSail

J. Marston wrote: »

Oh boo fúcking hoo.

This ''fat Spanish waiter'' stuff is an insult used by football fans (I don't even think it's that good, the name is too long to be catchy or anything). Just like some fans call Fergie ''whiskey nose''. I'm sure Wenger has one, I think Mourinho called him a voyeur before. There's probably insults out there that have been made about David Moyes mental eyes. It's not like Benitez, the poor kitten, is addressed as ''fat Spanish waiter'' by journalists at press conferences or in newspapers or on Sky Sports News. Christ...

But no, it has nothing to do with fans taking the piss, no, this particular injustice is fuelled by xenophobia and ignoran......zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Gimme a break.

Firstly, What's this boo hoo **** about? I'm a Liverpool fan, and respect rafa, but I'm certainly loosing no sleep over the treatment of a person I don't know

I agree every manager has a nick name, but few are viewed as a figure of ridicule to the extent rafa is. Certainly not those you mentioned

As I said, obviously fans take the piss, but it's more then that with rafa, and what I'm asking is is why? Why are other managers not subjected to that extent of it?

The xenophobia I'm referring to isn't an extreme xenophobia, I don't mean bnp/national front style. I'm referring more to the slightly subtler daily mail style, that middle class distrust of foreigners. I don't think anyone would disagree with the notion that it's prevelent in the media

Rafa's name was never mentioned in relation to the England job recently. Imagine for a second he was British with the exact same managerial record, there'd be huge momentum behind him for the job

As for the ignorance, well that's simple. Look at the facts and form an opinion, don't just believe that Harry redknapp is one of the leagues best managers because he took a relagation threatened side to the champions league as sky will bang on about. It not that straight forward, and anyone prepared to examine the circumstances in no great detail can see that. That's what I'm referring to by ignorance

Honestly I've heard far more in the last few days about how Rafa is ridiculed than I ever remember hearing him actually be ridiculed.

monkey9

cambo2008 wrote: »

They started it











It's hard not to reply to this crap in fairness.

Rafa gets under Ferguson's skin. FACT! No crap to reply to.

He's only ridiculed by fools tbf.

Only a handful of managers in the premiership have a better haul than him and they have been in the game much longer too.